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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



FRANKLIN BACHE, M.D. 



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AT THE I OF THE COLLEGE OF BRYSIl 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 



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IN FEE LFEFEFSONMEBLCJL COLLEGE OF FHLZALELFFIA . 



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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



FRANKLIN BACHE, M.D., 



PREPARED 



AT THE REQUEST OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 
_ OF PHILADELPHIA, 



READ BEFOEE THE COLLEGE, MAY 3d AND JUNE 7th, 1865, 



BY 

GEORGE B. VYOOD, M.D., 

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE. 



•».'», t 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE COLLEGE OE PHYSICIANS 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1865. 






BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



OF 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 



The duty assigned me by the College of Physicians 
of preparing a biographical memoir of their deceased 
Vice-president, Dr. Franklin Bache, is a very grateful 
one. I have felt that our long intimacy and friendship 
demanded of me such a tribute to his memory; yet, 
without an invitation of this kind, I might have hesi- 
tated, under the fear of rendering myself liable to the 
imputation of officiousness. At present, my only doubt 
on the subject is one arising from the very closeness of 
our former association. Not only in our social relations, 
but in much also of our practical life, we have been so 
intimately connected; so much of our time has been 
spent together, and so much of our work has been in 
common ; that it will be impossible to give a faithful 
picture of our departed friend, without bringing myself 
more frequently on the stage than may seem consistent 
with a becoming modesty. But I trust that the Fellows 
of the College will be prepared to make all due allow- 
ances, and to ascribe to a simple wish to present the 

1 



4 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

truth accurately, whatever I may be required to say of 
the joint pursuits of the deceased and myself. 

It will be difficult to compress, within the limits 
usually ascribed to memoirs like the present, all that 
will be necessary to give a faithful picture of the life 
of Dr. Bache in its various relations; but I shall en- 
deavour to be as concise as will be consistent with 
justice to the subject, avoiding minute detail unless 
when needful for the illustration of character, or pecu- 
liarly interesting in itself; and referring but briefly to 
certain circumstances in his history which may be more 
appropriately presented in another memoir, the prepara- 
tion of which has been committed to me by the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society. 

Dr. Bache was the great-grandson of Benjamin Frank- 
lin, and the eldest in the regular line of descent from 
that great philosopher, statesman, and philanthropist. 
His grandfather, Bichard Bache, born in England in 
September, 1737, emigrated while yet a young man to 
Pennsylvania, and married Sarah, the only daughter of 
Dr. Franklin, in October, 1767. While in England, in 
the year 1853, the late Dr. Bache and myself made a 
visit together to the Cathedral at Chester, where his 
attention was particularly attracted to the repeated 
occurrence of the name of Bache among the monu- 
mental inscriptions. We learned that the name be- 
longed to a family resident in the neighbourhood; and 
my companion thought it highly probable that they 
were related to his own, as the home of his grandfather 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 

had been near Preston, in Lancashire, at no great dis- 
tance from Chester. I mention this incident as tending 
to show that his paternal ancestors ranked with the 
gentry of England. 

The oldest child of the marriage just referred to was 
Benjamin Franklin Bache, the father of the subject of 
this memoir, who was born in August, 1769, and mar- 
ried in November, 1791, in his twenty-third year, Mar- 
garet Hartman Markoe, descended through her father 
from Peter Markoe, and through her mother from Isaac 
Hartman, names distinguished in the social annals of 
our city. Benjamin Franklin Bache was educated 
under the eye of his grandfather, Dr. Franklin, while 
minister of the United States in France, who gave him 
the best opportunities Europe afforded, and caused him 
to be instructed, not only in the usual knowledge of the 
schools, but in all the accomplishments then considered 
as entering into the idea of a finished gentleman. On 
returning to America, he soon entered the political 
arena, established the Aurora Newspaper in the interest 
of the Democratic party, and, considering his own quali- 
fications, the prestige of his descent, and the success 
and long predominance of his party, would probably, 
had he lived, attained a most distinguished position in 
the government of the country. But he was cut off at 
an early age, dying of the yellow fever in September, 
1798, in his thirtieth year, and leaving a widow with 
four sons, the eldest of whom was the late Dr. Franklin 
Bache, and the youngest Hartman Bache, now Colonel 



6 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

in the U. States Corps of Engineers. In the care of 
her young family, the mother was aided by her second 
husband, William Duane, who had succeeded Mr. Bache 
in the editorship of the Aurora, and of whose kindly 
interest in their welfare, I have heard my lamented 
friend speak in warm terms. 

Dr. Bache was born on the 25th of October, 1792, in 
a house built and owned by Dr. Franklin, on the south 
side of Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, 
in the vicinity of Dr. Franklin's own residence, and, as I 
have been informed, in that also of the dwelling which 
had been occupied by Mr. Read, the father of Mrs. 
Franklin. From the time of his birth to that of his 
decease, with the exception of the few years spent as a 
medical officer in the service of the United States, he 
resided in Philadelphia, where he received both his 
ordinary and professional education, and which, with 
the exception alluded to, was throughout life the scene 
of his labours. In childhood and youth, however, he 
passed much of the summer, during the vacation of the 
schools, at the residence of his paternal grandfather, 
Richard Bache, situated on the Pennsylvania side of the 
River Delaware, a few miles below Bristol. He used to 
speak, with not a little zest, of the enjoyments of those 
rural visits ; and there can be little doubt that the sports 
of boyhood in the pure air of the country, with the at- 
tendant relaxation from mental effort, contributed to 
give that healthful vigour to his constitution, which 
enabled it to support the wearing effect of the seden- 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 7 

tary labour that occupied so large a portion of his sub- 
sequent life. 

Contrary to what might be supposed by those who 
knew him only in middle and advanced age, he was 
when young very fond of athletic exercises, and, indeed, 
excelled in them; so that there were few more rapid 
walkers, or better leapers, swimmers, or skaters than he ; 
and the fact is told of him, that, at the age of twelve, 
he swam across the Delaware near his grandfather's 
house, though, on reaching the opposite bank, he was 
so much exhausted as to be compelled to return in a 
ferry-boat. 

In his early classical studies, he was a pupil in the 
academy of the Rev. Samuel B. Wylie, D.D., so long 
and so creditably known as a teacher of the Latin and 
Greek languages, under whose care he was prepared for 
the University. An anecdote has been told of him, in 
connection with this school, so strongly characteristic 
that it is worthy of repetition here. The rod was much 
more used at that time as an instrument of education 
than it now is. For some breach of discipline, young 
Bache was called up for chastisement; and being asked 
what, in his own opinion, he merited for his offence, he 
replied "it is not for me to dictate;" an answer which 
so much pleased Dr. Wylie that he remitted the punish- 
ment altogether. Few features of his character as a 
man were more decided than the one here displayed in 
early youth; a love of precision, namely, which required 
that everything should be in its proper place, and which 



8 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

in this instance taught him, as if intuitively, that it is 
the duty of the judge, and not of the culprit, to assign the 
punishment of an offence. But the anecdote tells also 
something more. It intimates a very favourable opinion 
of the pupil on the part of the teacher, who felt that 
he might safely appeal to the judgment and conscien- 
tiousness of the offender in his own case. The anec- 
dote was told by Dr. Wylie himself, then Professor of 
languages in the University of Pennsylvania, to a son 
of Dr. Bache, on his examination for admission into 
the Freshman Class. On leaving the academy of Dr. 
Wylie, Dr. Bache entered the University, where he went 
through a regular course of study in the Department 
of Arts, and graduated as Bachelor at the commence- 
ment in 1810, delivering the valedictory oration on the 
occasion. 

Having determined to adopt the Medical Profession, 
he commenced his studies as the private pupil of Dr. 
Benjamin Rush, then Professor of the Theory and Prac- 
tice of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, and 
remained in the same office during the whole period of 
his studentship; though, in consequence of the decease 
of the Professor, the duty of superintending the studies 
of his office pupils devolved on his son, the present Dr. 
James Rush. After matriculation in the University, 
he attended lectures in that Institution for the pre- 
scribed period, and received the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine in the year 1814. I have seldom heard him 
speak of this portion of his life, and have learned little 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 9 

or nothing from others; so that it probably passed 
without remarkable incident, occupied by a regular 
routine of study, which left few foot-prints in the 
memory, except those of steadily increasing profes- 
sional knowledge. This, however, is not exactly true 
of the period of his pupilage immediately preceding its 
close. 

It was while he was engaged in his medical studies 
that the war broke out between the United States and 
Great Britain. Wishing to aid his country to the best 
of his ability, without waiting till the full completion 
of his studies, he offered his services in a medical ca- 
pacity, and was entered as surgeon's mate in the 32d 
Regiment of infantry, so early as May 17th, 1813.* It 
is to be presumed that the authorities considered the 
interests of the service as likely to be best subserved 
by permitting him to finish his studies before ordering 
him on distant duty; as it was not till some months 
after this date that he was examined for his degree, 
and received the diploma of the school. He has more 
than once informed me that he was never actually en- 
gaged in battle; but, after his graduation, he was sent 
to the frontier, where he served for a considerable time, 
remaining with the same regiment until the close of 
the war. In the arrangements of the army, after peace 
was established, he was retained as surgeon of the 2d 
Regiment of infantry; but, having higher professional 

* He afterwards became surgeon in the same regiment. {Dr. Bache's 
Memoranda.) 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

aspirations than were likely to be gratified by remain- 
ing in the army, now that his country no longer needed 
his services, he resigned July 1st, 1816, in order to 
engage in the private practice of his profession in his 
native city. His last place of military service, as I 
have been informed by Colonel Bache, was Sackett's 
Harbour. 

On his way homeward from the North, an incident 
occurred, which I have heard him speak of as among 
the freaks of his earlier life, and which may be related 
here as a proof that, beneath the remarkable placidity 
of temper that characterized him beyond most others, 
there lurked a spark, which required only fit occasion 
to blaze out into energetic action. With other pas- 
sengers, one or more of whom were of the softer sex, 
he was travelling in a stage-coach from New York to 
Philadelphia, when, at a part of the road somewhat 
beyond Princeton, he noticed that the driver was in- 
toxicated, and, from his mode of managing the horses, 
apprehended that some mischief might ensue. After 
remonstrating with the man without effect, at least 
without other effect than impertinent replies, he by a 
powerful muscular effort unseated him, got possession 
of the lines, and drove the coach himself safely into 
Princeton. Whether the dispossessed coachman was 
taken into the town with them, or left upon the road, 
I do not remember; but, considering the Doctor's great 
kindliness of disposition, the former event is the more 
probable. 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 11 

Though no longer officially connected with the army, 
he was, for several years after having engaged in prac- 
tice in Philadelphia, occasionally employed in certain 
military duties, as, for example, in the examination of 
recruits, and in attendance on army-officers stationed 
in the city who might require medical aid, and was 
thus enabled to eke out a very inadequate income, while 
awaiting the lingering approach of professional success. 
In this service he was still engaged when I first made 
his acquaintance ; and I well remember, in my visits 
to his office, now and then finding him with a recruit 
under examination. 

At a very early period of his professional life, Dr. 
Bache's attention seems to have been especially at- 
tracted to the science of Chemistry, which is well cal- 
culated to take a strong hold on the partiality of a man 
of his mental characteristics.* There is in its accuracy, 
the precision of its formulas and rationales, its demon- 
strative character, and its highly important practical 
results, a peculiar adaptedness to the love of the true, 
the methodical, the certain, and the useful, which was 
so prominent in his moral nature. He accordingly de- 
voted much time to this science, mastered its principles 

* His predilection for chemistry showed itself very soon after the com- 
mencement of his medical studies. I have found, in looking over some of 
his memoranda kindly furnished me by his son, Dr. T. Hewson Bache, that, 
so early as some time in 1811, he published in the Aurora Newspaper an 
essay " on the probable composition of muriatic acid ;" and in the course of 
1813, while still a student, communicated three chemical papers to the 
" Memoirs of the Columbia Chemical Society of Philadelphia," an octavo 
volume containing 221 pages. 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

and most of its details, and particularly attached him- 
self to the at that time new doctrine of chemical equiv- 
alents, with which he became thoroughly conversant, 
and which he was among the first in this country to 
adopt unreservedly, and to aid in bringing into general 
acceptance. His devotion to the science soon found ex- 
pression in a Treatise on Chemistry, which he must have 
begun to prepare soon after his return from the army, 
and published in 1819. Of the character of this work 
I may have occasion to say something elsewhere. Its 
success was not very encouraging to the young author; 
and, in the face of so much competition as even then 
existed, without the support of an established name or 
business-influence, and labouring under the disadvant- 
ages which the want of an international copy-right law 
inflicts on American authorship, it could scarcely be 
expected to be successful, however great might be its 
merits. It never went through more than one edition. 
In after times, when he had become known both as an 
author and teacher, I often urged upon him either to 
revise this treatise, or prepare a new one for publica- 
tion, having no doubt that it would prove eminently 
successful, and contribute both to his reputation and in- 
come; and at one time he yielded so far to my instances 
as to enter upon the task, and prepared an amount of 
manuscript, which he supposed would yield one hundred 
printed pages. But, whether unable to overcome a dis- 
taste arising from his early disappointment, or unwilling 
to spare sufficient time from other avocations, he prose- 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 13 

cuted the work no further at the time, and could never 
afterwards be induced to resume it.* 

His first attempt at lecturing was in the same direc- 
tion. The lectures were on the subject of Chemistry, 
and, as I was informed by his brother, Colonel Bache, 
were delivered, about the year 1821, to a class consisting 
exclusively of his brothers, sisters, and other members of 
his family. They were afterwards repeated, on a some- 
what larger stage, to the private pupils of Dr. Thos. T. 
Hewson, who, deeming it advisable to follow the cus- 
tom, then beginning to prevail, of adding lectures to the 
former method of office-instruction, engaged the services 
of his young friend Dr. Bache in this branch of medical 
science; about the same time, I believe, that Dr. J. K. 
Mitchell was lecturing on the same subject to the stu- 
dents of Dr. Chapman, and the writer of this memoir to 
those of Dr. Parrish. It may not be amiss to state, in 
this place, that Dr. Hewson always exhibited a friendly 
interest in Dr. Bache, not only opening for him, as in 



* Besides writing his Treatise on Chemistry, Dr. Bache, jointly with Dr. 
Hare, edited, a.d. 1821. the first American edition of Ure's Dictionary of 
Chemistry ; wrote a supplement, a.d. 1823, to Henry's Chemistry, con- 
stituting a third though a thin volume in the edition of that work published 
by De Silver; edited, a.d. 1825, a System of Pyrotechny, by Dr. James 
Cutbush, who died immediately after he had completed the manuscript; 
edited, a.d. 1830, 1832, 1835, and 1840, four successive editions of Turner's 
Chemistry ; and wrote, a.d. 1834, for the "American Cyclopaedia of Medi- 
cine and Surgery," edited by Dr. Isaac Hays, of which only two volumes 
were published, the articles on Acetates, Acetic Acid, Acids, Acupunc- 
ture, Albumen, Alcohol, Alkalies, Alum, Alumina, Amber, and Ammonia 
in the first volume, and on Antidotes, Antimony, Aspartic Acid, and Atomic 
Theory in the second. [Dr. Bache' s Memoranda.) 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

the present instance, paths for the exertion of his abili- 
ties, but seizing whatever opportunities offered them- 
selves for promoting his professional welfare. Of these 
friendly offices Dr. Bache ever showed himself highly 
sensible, as evinced, among other proofs, by giving his 
name to his son, the present Dr. Thos. Hewson Bache, 
and by the dedication to him, in part, of the earlier 
editions of the U. S. Dispensatory. 

While upon the subject of lecturing, it will be most 
convenient, without turning aside to other matters of 
record, to pursue this line of our biography to the end. 
The first public appointment of Dr. Bache as a lecturer 
was to the Professorship of Chemistry in the Franklin 
Institute, which took place in 1826. This chair he 
continued to hold, giving annually, in the winter, an 
elementary course, without special relation to medicine, 
till the year 1832, when he resigned it, in order to ac- 
cept what he considered a more eligible position in the 
School of Pharmacy. 

In the mean time, however, his field of exertion, in 
this capacity, was enlarged by another appointment, 
which, as its duties were to be performed in the warmer 
seasons, did not interfere with the exercise of his pro- 
fessorial function. In the year 1830, two associations 
were organized for the instruction of medical pupils, 
upon a combined system of lectures and examinations, 
which at that time had become the prevalent method of 
private medical tuition in this city. It was attended 
with two great advantages; first, that the pupil was 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 15 

much more thoroughly educated than before, and, 
secondly, that a set of teachers was thus formed, from 
among whom our great public schools were afterwards 
supplied with tried and trained Professors, by whose 
instrumentality the former pre-eminence of Philadel- 
phia, as a seat of medical instruction, has been main- 
tained to the present time. The two combinations 
referred to were distinguished by the names of the As- 
sociation for Medical Instruction and the School of Medi- 
cine. In the former of these, in which the writer taught 
Materia Medica, Dr. Bache was the Lecturer on Chem- 
istry, in the latter Dr. Ch. D. Meigs on Obstetrics.* 
Each of these bodies had desired to secure the co-opera- 
tion of both of the gentlemen named; but as they were 
already engaged as members of their respective schools, 
the object could be accomplished only by an interchange 
of services ; and this was accordingly agreed upon ; the 
pupils of the School of Medicine being admitted to the 
course of Dr. Bache on Chemistry, and those of the As- 
sociation to that of Dr. Meigs on Midwifery. This ar- 
rangement continued in operation about five or six 
years, during which Dr. Bache gave two courses of 



* The Association for Medical Instruction consisted of Dr. Jos. Par- 
rish, who lectured on the Practice of Medicine, Dr. Franklin Bache on 
Chemistry, Dr. J. Ehea Barton on Surgery, Dr. Geo. B. Wood on Materia 
Medica, and Dr. Samuel G. Morton on Anatomy; the School of Medicine, 
of Dr. Wm. Gibson on the Principles of Surgery, Dr. J. Randolph on 
Operative Surgery, Dr. C. D. Meigs on Midwifery, Dr. B. H. Coates on 
the Practice of Medicine, and Dr. R. La Roche on the Institutes of 
Medicine. 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

lectures annually, one in the colder, the other in the 
warmer season. 

It has been already stated that he resigned his posi- 
tion in the Franklin Institute, on being appointed to the 
chair of Chemistry in the Philadelphia College of Phar- 
macy. This appointment was made in the year 1831, 
on the occasion of the vacation of that chair by myself, 
in order to take the Professorship of Materia Medica in 
the same Institution; so that we were now, and for 
several years continued to be associated both in our 
summer and winter teaching. Dr. Bache held the chair 
in the College of Pharmacy until appointed, in the year 
1841, to the same Professorship in the Jefferson Medical 
College of Philadelphia; a position probably, at that 
time, scarcely second, as regards emolument, to any 
other of a similar character whether in the United 
States or abroad. This position he continued to hold 
till his decease. 

Singular as it may seem, considering our long and 
close intimacy, I do not remember that I ever attended 
an ordinary lecture of Dr. Bache; so that I cannot, 
from personal observation, give an account of his pecu- 
liar qualities as a lecturer. But, from my intimate 
knowledge of the man, I can readily picture him to 
myself in the performance of his professorial duty; 
and, from what I have learned from frequent conver- 
sation with his pupils, I have no doubt that the follow- 
ing sketch will be recognized, by those who have heard 
him, as very near the truth. In reference to his style 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 17 

of lecturing, he was slow and deliberate; correct in the 
choice and arrangement of his words, because from long 
habit he could scarcely be otherwise; simple and plain, 
however, without any attempt at metaphors or other 
flowers of speech, yet now and then indulging in a wit- 
ticism or stroke of humour, and sometimes interlarding 
the dry details of the science with a ludicrous but still 
illustrative anecdote. As to the matter taught, he was 
extremely methodical, clear in his explanations because 
clear in his own conceptions, conscientiously precise in 
all his details, and leaving no dark spot in his subject 
unillumined. In his experimental illustrations he was 
almost invariably successful, as he left nothing to 
chance, and took care that all the necessary prelimina- 
ries of success should be duly attended to. Though 
lecturing extemporaneously so far as language was con- 
cerned, he treated of everything in its proper place, 
omitting nothing undesignedly; because he studied each 
lecture carefully before delivering it, and generally per- 
formed this duty at night before retiring, so as to be 
secure against interruptions in the morning. His man- 
ner had the earnestness of conviction, but was never- 
theless quiet, without the least display of warmth or 
excitement. To say all in a few words, he was a plain, 
clear, truthful, conscientious, and efficient, but not a 
showy, splendid, or peculiarly attractive lecturer; one 
from whose prelections the student would retire, with 
his thoughts more intent upon the subject taught than 
upon the teacher. 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

We will now return to a period somewhat anterior to 
the commencement of his career as a lecturer upon 
Chemistry. About two years after withdrawing from 
the army, on the 28th of May, 1818, he was united in 
marriage with Aglae, daughter of Jean Dabadie, a 
highly respectable French merchant, who was then 
living in Philadelphia, but soon , afterwards removed to 
France, where he died. His son Albert, half-brother to 
Mrs. Bache, was long United States consul at Venice, 
and now resides at Nice, where Dr. Bache, who always 
had a most kindly regard for him, and gave his name 
to his youngest son, had the pleasure of meeting him, 
on our joint visit to Europe in 1853. This marriage 
was a very happy one, though unfortunately too soon 
broken by death. Mrs. Bache, as I remember her, was 
a lady of fine countenance and noble presence, with 
excellent moral qualities, amiable, intelligent, and 
judicious, who diminished for her husband, by sharing 
them, the embarrassments of an inadequate income, 
and, whatever may have been his troubles abroad, at 
least made his home happy. But, most sorrowfully for 
her husband, after bearing with him the burdens of his 
earlier life, she was prematurely carried off by con- 
sumption, dying on the 26th of May, 1835, just about 
the period when his prospects began to brighten; with 
the consolation, however, of a fair future for those she 
loved, though she herself might not participate in their 
better fortunes. She left him a young family of six 
children, sons and daughters, of whom live survive. 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 19 

The Doctor, though in the prime of life when she died, 
remained faithful to her memory, and was still a 
widower at the time of his decease. 

Like most other young medical men who have com- 
menced their professional life in this city, he was very 
slow in obtaining practice. Indeed, though a well-in- 
formed and judicious practitioner, he never won profes- 
sional success at all proportionate to his merits, or of 
itself adequate to the comfortable support of his family. 
This may be ascribed chiefly to two causes. In the first 
place, he was probably not sufficiently on the watch to 
seize those fugitive opportunities which present them- 
selves in the path of almost every candidate for success, 
and was certainly very deficient in that self-assertion, 
which, without waiting for the interference of others, 
makes known one's own claims to a careless public, and 
a due degree of which is almost essential, in the absence 
of powerful aid from friends and connections. But the 
second cause was probably still more operative. For 
great success in the practice of medicine an undivided 
attention is necessary. Medicine is said to be a jealous 
mistress, who requires the entire devotion of her vota- 
ries, and is alienated by even a suspicion of infidelity. 
The public, when observing an apparent addiction to 
any other pursuit, is apt to consider the time and energy 
given to this as so much abstracted from the necessary 
requirements, whether of the study of medicine as a 
science, or its practice as an art, and to withhold its 
confidence and patronage accordingly. Even chemistry, 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

closely as it is allied, and, indeed, essential as it is. to 
medicine, is not an exception to this rule; and unless 
cultivated obviously and exclusively in subservience, to 
the practice of the healing art, will be found almost 
invariably to impede professional progress in a greater 
or less degree. Dr. Bache was known from an early 
period of life to have addicted himself to this science, 
and I have no, doubt experienced the effects of this 
reputation in the limitation of the number of his 
patients. 

He was appointed physician of the Walnut Street 
State-prison in 1824, and of the Eastern Penitentiary at 
Cherry-hill in 1829, and continued to serve in these 
positions until 1836, when his increased avocations 
rendered his resignation necessary. It is scarcely re- 
quisite to say that he performed their duties faithfully, 
and satisfactorily to all concerned. An evidence of the 
conscientiousness with which he acted is exhibited in the 
earnestness of his measures to guard the inmates from 
the attack of cholera, which made its appearance among 
us epidemically in 1832, during his connection with 
those establishments. The crowded condition of the 
old "Walnut Street prison, in the heart of the city, 
offered one of the conditions most favourable to the 
assault of the disease; and the terrible fatality which 
attended its prevalence in the Arch Street prison, situ- 
ated less unfavourably, because in a less thickly-built 
neighbourhood, intimates how fearful may be the results 
of the want of due hygienic precautions in such institu- 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 21 

tions.* That the epidemic cause was present in the 
Walnut Street prison was sufficiently evinced by the 
occurrence of one fatal case of cholera, and other mild 
cases of disease of the stomach and bowels, such as gen- 
erally attend its epidemic prevalence. As soon as he 
had reason to suppose that the disease was about to in- 
vade Philadelphia, he took instant measures, with the 
sanction of the Inspectors, to put the prison into a con- 
dition most unfavourable to the influence of the morbific 
cause. The diet of the inmates was regulated, cleanli- 
ness of the person and apartments was rigidly enforced, 
all filth and other sources of noxious exhalation were 
removed whenever practicable from within the confines 
of the prison, disinfectants were freely employed, and 
the prisoners were kept separate as far as possible, espe- 
cially at night. In reference to this last point, it was 
desirable to have the greatest possible extent of space 
for the accommodation of the inmates. One large apart- 
ment was used for the storage of articles manufactured 
in the prison, while awaiting use or sale. This the 
Doctor was desirous of having emptied; but on that 
point he was resisted by the authorities. " What can 
we do with them?" said the Inspectors to him, when 

* Some of the younger readers of this memoir may require to be informed 
that the Walnut Street prison was situated at the South-east corner of 
Walnut and Sixth Streets, opposite to what is now known as Washing- 
ton Square, but was formerly named Potters' Field; and the Arch Street 
prison on the South side of Arch immediately West of Broad Street, with 
very few buildings near it. Many years have passed since these two prisons 
were removed; and their sites are now occupied by private houses. 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

urging the removal of the goods. "Why," replied the 
Doctor, " if you can do no better, carry them into the 
yard and burn them." He did not, however, gain his 
point until the awful fatality in the Arch Street prison 
became known, when he was authorized to do as he 
might think best. The consequence of all this care 
was that only one fatal case occurred within the prison ; 
and this was the only case of cholera reported by him. 
On being asked why he did not report the milder cases, 
and thus gain the credit of their cure, he replied that 
when there was any reason to doubt the nature of the 
affection he always avoided giving it the name of 
cholera, as he feared lest the effects of terror on the 
prisoners might aggravate the disease, and even increase 
its prevalence; thus showing more regard for the good 
of his patients than for his own reputation. The same 
regulations were enforced at Cherry-hill so far as requi- 
site; but the situation of that prison was so much more 
favourable both as regards locality and internal arrange- 
ments, that not a symptom of the disease is said to have 
shown itself. 

His position in the two State-prisons naturally led a 
person of his thoughtful character to investigate the 
subject of penitentiary discipline; and his intimate 
contact with both the old and new systems, as in oper- 
ation in the two prisons respectively, gave him excel- 
lent opportunities for the formation of just views. The 
results of his reflections were given in two letters, dated, 
the one March 13th, 1829, the other October 16th, 1830, 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 2 



which were published both in a pamphlet form, and in 
the third and sixth volumes of Hazard's Register. 

For the first ten or twelve years of his professional 
life, the income of Dr. Bache was so inadequate to 
the wants of his family, and the prospect before him 
seemed so unpromising that, as his brother Colonel Bache 
informed me, he on more than one occasion seriously 
contemplated removing to the West in search of better 
fortunes ; and it was only by the remonstrances of his 
near relatives, who were confident that he would 
ultimately rise to distinction, that he was induced to 
remain. It was not till 1835 or 1836 that his prospects 
began decidedly to brighten. An assured income from 
the U. S. Dispensatory now united with that from his 
practice and other sources to make him quite comfort- 
able ; and his appointment to the Chemical chair in the 
Jefferson College, but a few years afterwards, placed 
him in a position of comparative affluence. 

In the life of Dr. Bache there were three series of 
incidents, arising from his connection with three differ- 
ent societies, each of which requires a distinct consider- 
ation. The three societies referred to were the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society, the Kappa Lambda Society, 
and the College of Physicians. After accompanying me 
through a narration of as many of these incidents as we 
shall have time to notice, the Fellows of the College 
will, I think, be prepared to agree with me in consider- 
ing the influence of such associations on the lives of 
their members often very beneficent, and in the opinion 



24 BIOGEAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

that a young man thus connected, if disposed to take 
advantage of his opportunities, will have much greater 
chances of distinction and usefulness than if isolated in 
his course of life. 

As regards Dr. Bache's relations with the first-men- 
tioned association, the American Philosophical Society, 
I shall have occasion to speak fully elsewhere. In this 
place it is sufficient to say that he became a member 
April 21st, 1820, and, after occupying successively 
almost every official position, distinguishing himself in 
all by a close attention to their duties, was chosen 
President January 7th, 1853; a distinction, independ- 
ently of his personal claims, highly becoming him as 
the eldest descendant of the founder and first President 
of the Society, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In consequence 
of a by-law of the Society then in force, limiting the 
duration of the Presidency to two years, his term of 
office expired in 1855; and subsequently, when, partly 
through his instrumentality, this by-law was abrogated, 
and the old rule of indefinite re-eligibility restored, he 
positively declined to allow his name to be used as a 
candidate, though he would undoubtedly have been re- 
elected, had he done so. He lost, however, none of his 
interest in the Society, and, as long as he lived, con- 
tinued to attend its meetings regularly, and to partici- 
pate actively in its proceedings. 

You have all, I presume, heard of that peculiar Phila- 
delphia institution, the Wistar Club, or as some of its 
members prefer to name it, the Wistar Party. This is 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 25 

an offshoot of the American Philosophical Society, and 
originated in the custom of Dr. Caspar Wistar, a former 
President of the Society, and at the same time Professor 
of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, of enter- 
taining at his house, on a particular evening every week, 
a select number of members, and other invited guests, 
citizens, or strangers who might happen to be in town, 
especially those of any scientific pretensions. After the 
decease of Dr. Wistar, which happened in the year 1818, 
a number of the members of the Society, who had been 
frequent guests on these occasions, united to form a club, 
with the view of continuing the meetings. The simple 
rules of the club were that it should consist exclusively 
of members of the American Philosophical Society, that 
none should be admitted unless by a unanimous vote, 
and that entertainments should be given every Satur- 
day evening by the members successively ; and care was 
taken so to limit the numbers composing the club that 
one party during the season, which usually extended 
from October to April, should be given by each indivi- 
dual. The entertainments, extremely frugal, and wisely 
so, in the time of Dr. Wistar, gradually degenerated into 
extravagance with his successors ; so that it was at last 
deemed necessary to adopt certain sumptuary regulations, 
which, however, were not always found sufficient to re- 
strain expenditure within the limits of moderation. Dr. 
Bache was an active member of this association, regular 
in the performance of its duties and in attendance, and 
by his social qualities contributed not a little to the 



26 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

attractiveness of the parties. He continued to be a mem- 
ber so long as he lived. I have always regarded the 
Wistar Club, not merely as an ornamental feature of 
Philadelphia society, but as a very useful social institu- 
tion; bringing as it did persons together of various pur- 
suits, who would not otherwise perhaps have met, thus 
removing prejudices, and conciliating friendly feeling; 
and, by a regulation regarding strangers which gave 
each member the right to introduce one or more to the 
meetings, facilitating their intercourse with citizens, and 
contributing to the reputation of our city for hospitality. 
At the breaking out of the great rebellion, the meetings 
of the club # were, I think wisely, suspended ; but we 
may hope that they will be resumed with the return of 
peace. 

We are next to consider those events in the life of 
Dr. Bache which had their source in his membership in 
the Kappa Lambda Society. This association, which was 
exclusively medical, was founded about the year 1822, 
by Dr. Samuel Brown, of Kentucky, who designed that 
it should extend throughout the Union, with branches 
in different localities, affiliated in one brotherhood, and 
bound together by community of principle and aim. 
The great object of the association was to elevate the 
character of the medical profession not only in scientific 
attainment, but also and especially in its ethical rela- 
tions. Prominent above all other aims, at least in the 
branch of the society established in Philadelphia, were 
the maintenance of harmony among its members, and 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 27 

the promotion of harmony as far as possible in the pro- 
fession generally. In the beginning it was necessarily a 
secret association. An essential point in its constitution 
was that all its members should be on friendly terms 
together; and, after its first formation, no one could be 
admitted unless by unanimous consent. In the weak- 
ness of infancy, it could easily have been crushed by 
the superior strength of those, who, from their mutually 
unfriendly relations, could not be admitted as members. 
When it became stronger with age, there was no hesita- 
tion in making known its existence and purposes. One 
danger threatened it, growing out of its peculiar consti- 
tution, that, namely, of degenerating into cliques, with 
interests distinct from those of the outside members of 
the profession, if not hostile to them. Whatever may 
have happened elsewhere, we fortunately escaped the 
danger in this city. The Kappa Lambda Society of 
Philadelphia increased so rapidly that it soon embraced 
a large proportion of the profession in this locality, and 
was thus placed beyond the chance of being used as an 
instrument of selfish purposes. Indeed, its influence 
among us was purely beneficent; and, when it went out 
of existence, it probably did so because it had accom- 
plished its objects as far as could be done by mere as- 
sociation, and there was no further use for it. Formerly 
the profession was anything but harmonious in Phila- 
delphia; and unseemly disputes exposed it to the de- 
rision of its enemies, and the disapproval of the public. 
It was, I think, mainly through the influence, imme- 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

diate or remote, of the Kappa Lambda Society, that this 
contentious spirit was superseded by a remarkable de- 
gree of harmony, which has been handed down to the 
present times; so that there is probably no place in the 
world of equal size, where medical men in general have 
more cordial relations among themselves, and where 
open enmities or disputatious wrangling would be more 
discreditable. 

An incident which occurred at my own house some 
years since will serve to illustrate this statement. There 
were at that time at least three regular incorporated 
medical schools in the city. At my Wistar party for 
the season, there were present one or more of the Pro- 
fessors from each of these schools ; and among the guests 
was a stranger, himself also a physician, from a some- 
what remote part of our country less characterized by a 
spirit of concord. Before the close of the evening the 
stranger approached me, and, in a confidential manner, 
expressed his astonishment at seeing so many persons of 
interests so opposite, not only met together, but appar- 
ently on the best possible terms. " I should have ex- 
pected," he said, " to see them at daggers' points ; but 
so far from that, they converse freely with one another, 
and, indeed, seem as if they might really be friends. 
How do you explain it?" I contented myself with 
answering that it was the fashion in Philadelphia. 

Dr. Bache was among the earliest admitted members 
of the Kappa Lambda Society, and in 1828 one of its 
Vice-presidents, was thoroughly imbued with its spirit, 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 29 

and fully performed his part in the accomplishment of 
its purposes.* Among the measures adopted at an early 
period for the promotion of its ends, was the institution 
of a Quarterly Medical Journal, conducted by a com- 
mittee of the Society, and entitled the North American 
Medical anal Surgical Journal. The first number ap- 
peared in January, 1826, and the last in October, 1831; 
so that it had a duration of six years. The editorial 
committee to whom the work was entrusted, and whose 
names at first appeared, as the only responsible conduc- 
tors, on the title page, were Drs. E. La Roche, H. L. 
Hodge, Franklin Bache, C. D. Meigs, and B. H. Coates. 
The connection of the Journal with the Society was not 
made public until announced by the editors, on the ap- 
pearance of the 7th number; and the editorial corps 
was about the same time increased by the addition to 
the five original members of Dr. John Bell, Dr. D. F. 
Condie, and myself, who had, however, co-operated with 
the committee from the beginning. Much of Dr. Bache's 
time was for six years given to this Journal, to which 
he contributed original articles and reviews, and his clue 
share of the quarterly summary, which was very copious 
and complete. f When, moreover, the editors took upon 



* My friend Dr. R. La Roche informs me that, as first instituted in Phila- 
delphia, the Society consisted of only four members ; himself, Dr. Saml. 
Jackson, afterwards Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, Dr. C. D. Meigs, and Dr. Thos. Harris. 

f The following were the papers and reviews contributed by him to this 
work ; — In vol. i., a Paper on Acupuncturation, and a Review of Dr. Thos. 
Thomson's "First Principles of Chemistry," vol. ii., a Review of " Prout 



30 BIOGEAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

themselves, in part, the pecuniary responsibility of the 
Journal some time before its close, it was on Dr. Bache 
that they chiefly relied as their financial agent ; and to 
his accuracy and care that they probably owed their 
escape from pecuniary loss. It is but just to his memory 
to say that all his services to the Journal were entirely 
gratuitous; and when the editors became in part pro- 
prietors, it was in no mercenary spirit ; for all the profits, 
whatever they might be, were pledged for the payment 
of contributors. Though myself a participant in the 
management, yet there were so many others concerned 
that I may be permitted to say, without exposing my- 
self to the imputation of inordinate self-esteem, that the 
Journal was admirably well conducted, replete, especi- 
ally in its earlier volumes, with valuable original matter, 
and, taken altogether, probably inferior to none of the 
same period in the English language. No writer on 
practical medicine could do justice to his subject, without 
a frequent appeal to its pages directly or indirectly. 

But the consequences to Dr. Bache of his membership 
in the Kappa Lambda Society did not cease with the ces- 
sation of the Journal. The eight editors, who had been 
so long and so agreeably associated, meeting often and 
always with pleasure in conducting the literary business 
of the Journal, had contracted mutual friendships which 



on Diabetes, Calculus, &c;" vol. vi., a Case of Obstructed Bowels (of re- 
markable interest) ; vol. ix., Report of Selected Cases; vol. x., Review of 
Christison on Poisons; and vol. xi., a Review of Dr. Southwood Smith on 
Fevers. (Dr. Bache 's Memoranda.) 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 31 

forbade a separation, and a return to their former relations 
of mere professional brotherhood. They resolved, there- 
fore, at the suggestion, if I remember rightly, of Dr. La 
Roche, to remain associated under the name of the Med- 
ical Club, with the understanding that they should meet, 
one evening in the week, in the houses of the several 
members successively, for the purpose solely of friendly 
social intercourse. In order to avoid the rock on which 
such associations are so apt to split, they made at the 
beginning a firm resolution, which was never afterwards 
departed from, to restrict the eating and drinking to 
simple cakes or bread and butter with tea and coffee; 
and, in order to extend the social action of the club, 
they agreed that the host of the evening might invite a 
few medical friends, and that each member should have 
the privilege of taking with him one or more strangers, 
belonging to the profession, who might happen to be in 
town. These resolutions were carried into effect, and 
the club continued in more or less regular operation till 
the decease of Dr. Bache. The meetings were often 
very happy; and I presume that there is not one of us 
who does not look back upon them with unalloyed satis- 
faction, except from the intrusive thought that the ori- 
ginal members can never all meet again in this world. 
No one contributed more to the general enjoyment than 
Dr. Bache, who, on these occasions, often relaxed from 
the calm seriousness habitual with him to promote gen- 
eral good humour by joke, witticism, pleasantry, or ludi- 
crous anecdote, all uttered in a quiet manner, which 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

added to their effect. It is a singular fact, in relation 
to this club, that, though formed so early as January 
15th, 1833, and consisting of persons then entering into 
middle life, and some of them in delicate health, it did 
not lose by death a single one of its original members 
until the decease of Dr. Bache, that is, during a .period 
of more than thirty years. The fact at least speaks 
well for the habits of the members; and it is worthy of 
note that all or nearly all of them belonged to the origi- 
nal Temperance Society of Philadelphia. The late Dr. 
Henry Bond was one of the members of the club; but 
he joined it considerably after its formation, and, with 
the exception of Dr. S. H. Dickson, was the only one 
ever admitted. The Medical Club has been a prolific 
parent, and has always looked with maternal satisfac- 
tion on her progeny; though, like most other mothers, 
apt sometimes to scold the younger ones a little, for 
what, looking perhaps on her own abstemiousness with 
rather too much self-approbation, she is disposed to re- 
gard as an approach to extravagance. 

It remains to speak of Dr. Bache's relations with the 
College of Physicians. No other society had so great 
or so beneficent an influence on his course of life. He 
became a Fellow of the College in April, 1829, and Vice- 
president in July, 1855. How regular he was in attend- 
ance, how much interested in the proceedings, how 
judicious in his advice and admonitions, and how open 
to conviction and ready to yield when convinced, most 
of you can remember as well as myself. When the Fel- 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 33 

lows were called on for contributions, especially towards 
the building fund which has brought into existence this 
noble edifice, his purse was always open, with a liberality 
perhaps disproportionate to his means; and, when the 
time came for the use of the fund, his judgment, as one of 
the building committee, aided materially in its judicious 
application. In consequence of the absence of the Pres- 
ident of the College in Europe, he presided for more 
than two years in 1860, 1861, and 1862, over your meet- 
ings. It is not, however, my purpose to particularize all 
the services he rendered the College, or all the several 
proceedings in which he was especially concerned. I 
shall mention further only one series of its operations, 
in which he largely participated, and which, in its gen- 
eral influence on the welfare of the profession, and 
through it on the good of the country at large, entitles 
it, and will ever entitle it, to the gratitude of the nation 
as one of its benefactors. I allude to the action of the 
College in reference to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, which 
began with the inception of that work, was concerned 
far more than that of any other institution in its im- 
provement, progress, and ultimate establishment as the 
recognized national standard, has continued with un- 
abated zeal to the present time, and will, I hope, be 
extended indefinitely into the future. At the same 
meeting at which he was elected a Fellow of the Col- 
lege, Dr. Bache was appointed one of a committee to 
revise the Pharmacopoeia. 

The first Pharmacopoeia of the United States was 



34 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

published in Boston in 1820, under the authority of a con- 
vention which met at Washington, representing incorpo- 
rated medical institutions in various parts of the Union. 
In other civilized countries, works of this kind are usually 
prepared directly or indirectly under governmental au- 
thority, and have in a greater or less degree the sanction 
of law. In ours, unfortunately, no regulating power 
over the medical profession was given in the Constitu- 
tion to the General Government, so that this power is 
reserved to the States. We cannot, therefore, have one 
general pharmacopoeia with legal sanction ; and it is 
not desirable that the several States should exercise 
their reserved power in this direction, because, though 
we might thus have pharmacopoeias with the authority 
of law, they would almost necessarily be more or less 
discordant and conflicting; and we should thus fall, even 
in a greater degree, into that mischievous confusion, 
from which the profession in Great Britain has but just 
escaped by the incorporation of the three British Phar- 
macopoeias into one. Under the circumstances of our 
political constitution, the establishment and regulation 
of the Pharmacopoeia have been wisely left to the care 
of the profession itself. It was from a strong convic- 
tion of the necessity of such a regulating code, that the 
movement took place which eventuated in the Pharma- 
copoeia of 1820, and in which our College, though it did 
not then take the lead, nevertheless zealously co-oper- 
ated. But the work, though creditable as a first attempt, 
was in many respects so incorrect and defective that it 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 35 

failed to command general acceptance, and, at the end 
of ten years, which had been fixed on for its revision, 
seemed, except in some limited localities, to have been 
almost forgotten. Happily, the late Dr. Thos. T. Hew- 
son, afterwards President of the College, having been a 
delegate from this body to the Convention of 1820, by 
authority of which the Pharmacopoeia had been pub- 
lished, retained his interest in the work, and brought 
the subject of its revision to the notice of the Fellows. 
A committee of revision was accordingly appointed, 
early in 1829, consisting of Dr. Hewson, Dr. Bache, and 
myself; the last two having been chosen, the former for 
his well-known chemical knowledge, the latter, I pre- 
sume, from the consideration that, having been for 
several years delivering courses of lectures on Materia 
Medica, it was supposed that he might know something 
of the subject.* Beginning its labours immediately, the 
committee worked diligently for eight or nine months, 
and at the end of that time were enabled to present to 
the College the completed draught of a pharmacopoeia, 
which had little resemblance to the original except in 
the general plan, and a few great characteristic features. 
The College adopted the revised work, and, having 
appointed Dr. Bache and myself delegates to represent 
them in the approaching Decennial Convention, to meet 



* The U. S. Pharmacopoeia had, before this time, engaged the particular 
attention of Dr. Bache ; as a review of the first edition of it, that of the year 
1820, had been written by him, and published in the first volume of the 
American Recorder, in the year 1821. 

3 



36 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

in Washington in January, 1830, entrusted it to us, to 
be presented to the Convention as the contribution of 
the College towards the new Pharmacopoeia. So little 
interest was generally felt in the subject, that, on reach- 
ing Washington, the delegates of the College found few 
others present, and the whole number which entered 
the Convention did not exceed eight from five different 
societies. Nevertheless, they organized themselves regu- 
larly, and, proceeding to business, received the report of 
the Philadelphia delegates, and, having adopted it, re- 
ferred it for further revision and ultimate publication to 
a committee, consisting of physicians from different parts 
of the United States, to meet at as early a period as pos- 
sible at Philadelphia, with Dr. Hewson as Chairman. 
After the adjournment of the Convention, measures 
were immediately taken to carry its views into effect; 
and several copies of the work were made, and trans- 
mitted to distant members of the revising committee. 
Without entering further into detail, it will be sufficient 
to say that the draught was generally approved, and, 
with some slight modifications, was referred for publi- 
cation to a sub-committee, consisting of the three mem- 
bers of the College by whom it had been originally pre- 
pared. But, before allowing it to go to press, so desirous 
was the committee that it should receive the approval of 
all who might afterwards be practically concerned, that 
it was submitted to the scrutiny of the Philadelphia Col- 
lege of Pharmacy, which, after careful examination by a 
committee, returned it with their endorsement, making, 



DE. FRANKLIN BACHE. 37 

however, certain valuable suggestions, of which the com- 
mittee was happy to avail itself. The work was at 
length put to press, and was published in April, 1831 ; 
the same care being exercised to prevent errors in 
printing, as had been extended to it in every stage of 
its progress. Happily, the new Pharmacopoeia was gen- 
erally approved as it became known, and, in the end, 
was universally received both by the medical and phar- 
maceutical professions as the standard for the whole 
Union, and morally as obligatory as if it had been 
brought forth under the sanction of law. A regard for 
truth, however, compels me to say that the publication 
of the U. S. Dispensatory, which took place soon after, 
and of which the Pharmacopoeia had been adopted as 
the basis, contributed more than any other agency, and 
probably more than all other agencies combined, to 
make it known and understood throughout the United 
States. On this point I shall have occasion to say more 
hereafter. At present I wish to confine your attention to 
the Pharmacopoeia, until all has been said that may be 
required to represent the connection of Dr. Bache with 
that work. So large a portion of his time, so much of 
his mental labour, and so great a share of his interest 
and solicitude, were for more than thirty years of the 
best portion of his life devoted to its preparation and 
improvement, and to the means of establishing it as the 
United States standard of Pharmacology, that it would 
be doing great injustice to his memory to pass lightly 
over his connection with it. 



38 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Thus far, it will have been perceived that Dr. Bache 
participated in every step of the revision, both the pre- 
liminary one by appointment of this College, and the 
final one under the authority of the Convention, as also 
in whatever was requisite in the publication of the new 
edition. The same precisely is true of the subsequent 
editions; those namely put forth by the Conventions of 
1840, 1850, and 1860. In reference to each of these 
editions, a revising committee was appointed by the Col- 
lege; the revised copy prepared by this committee was 
sent to the Convention at Washington, where the Col- 
lege was represented by delegates ; the new draught was 
referred with other contributions to a revising and pub- 
lishing committee meeting in Philadelphia, by whom 
the work was ultimately prepared for publication, and 
then carried through the press; and of all these bodies, 
the committee of the College, the Washington Conven- 
tion, and the final revising and publishing committee, 
Dr. Bache was a very attentive, laborious, and efficient 
member.* In the last revision, that, namely, which re- 
sulted in the recent publication of the Pharmacopoeia, 
a.d. 1863, he had even heavier duty to perform than on 



* Of the revising committee appointed by the College in 1839, the mem- 
bers were the same as on the occasion of the preceding decennial revision, 
namely, Drs. Hewson, Bache, and myself; in the subsequent revisions made 
by the College for the editions of 1850 and 1860, Dr. Jos. Carson, in conse- 
quence of the decease of Dr. Hewson, was chosen in his place ; and the 
same Fellow of the College, by appointment of the Convention at Washing- 
ton, served also on the revising and publishing committee, to which the 
work was, at each of these periods, finally entrusted. 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 39 

the preceding occasions. In former revisions, it had 
been my lot to act as chairman of the final revising and 
publishing committee; but in this, as I announced my 
intention of making a voyage to Europe in the spring, 
the Convention, though doing me the honour of putting 
me upon the committee, devolved the duties of chairman 
on Dr. Bache. As several contributions from different 
sources were referred to this committee, and among the 
rest two complete draughts of a pharmacopoeia, one 
from this College and the other from the Philadelphia 
College of Pharmacy, an unusual amount of labour was 
imposed on the committee, in comparing, selecting, and 
finally consolidating the materials. The committee had, 
moreover, determined to make a complete and thorough 
revision, so as to leave as little for future change as pos- 
sible. This required much research and numerous ex- 
periments; every doubtful point being submitted to the 
test of practical trial, and this frequently being repeated 
once or oftener, before a satisfactory conclusion could be 
reached. When informed that the committee had 119 
meetings, generally once a week, which were mainly oc- 
cupied in examining and deciding upon the work done 
in the intervals by sub-committees, from whom 138 
written reports were received, you will be able to form 
some conception of the great burden that rested on the 
chairman, whose duty it was to see that all the ma- 
terials should be properly arranged, that everything 
should be clothed in correct and congruous language, 
and that the work throughout should be consistent as 



40 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

well in form as substance. Though strongly pressed by the 
public demand, and anxious to put forth the new edition 
as soon as possible, consistently with the greatest attain- 
able perfection, the committee was unable to publish it 
before about the middle of 1863. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to add that, for all this expenditure of time, thought, 
and solicitous labour, not only in this revision, but in 
all those in which he had been concerned, Dr. Bache 
neither expected nor received any other recompense 
than the consciousness of duty performed and public 
benefit conferred, and perhaps a reputation enhanced 
with that portion of the profession who knew and could 
appreciate his efforts and sacrifices.* 

One or two other points in reference to the revision 
of the Pharmacopoeia, as connected with our departed 
friend, require notice. The work was at first confined 
exclusively to the medical profession, without any par- 
ticipation whatever of the pharmaceutical. Any one 
who considers for a moment the nature and purpose of 
a pharmacopoeia, that all its formulas are for the guid- 
ance of the apothecary, and that he much better than 
the physician, as a general rule, understands their prin- 
ciples and modes of execution, must see at a glance, if 



* In the interests of pharmacy, Dr. Bache wrote, and published in the 
American Journal of Pharmacy, the following articles; 1. "An Address to 
the Graduates of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy" (vol. i., a.d. 1835) ; 
2. " Remarks on the British and United States Pharmacopoeias" (vol. viii. 
N. S., a.d. 1842); and 3. " On the Advantages of a Single Pharmacopoeia 
for the British Empire" (vol. iii. 3d Series, a.d. 1855). 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 41 

free from prejudice, how unjust and at the same time 
impolitic was this exclusiveness. The cause of it, I 
presume, was that, at the time when the movement for 
the preparation of a pharmacopoeia began, there were 
few thoroughly educated pharmaceutists in this country, 
and no incorporated bodies to represent them and pro- 
vide for their instruction; that in fact pharmacy, as 
it then existed here, was a trade rather than a profes- 
sion, and consequently that there were no ready means 
for enlisting its services. Now it so happened that, when 
first engaged in the work of revision, I was Professor of 
Chemistry in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 
and naturally had my attention turned to this defect. 
Hence it was that the Pharmacopoeia of 1830 was sub- 
mitted by the committee of revision and publication to 
the judgment of that body, and their co-operation re- 
quested. Soon afterwards Dr. Bache was elected to the 
same chair in the College of Pharmacy, in consequence 
of my own transfer to that of Materia Medica. We 
were now in a condition to act conjointly in this matter, 
and Dr. Bache gave all his influence to the measure of 
uniting the two professions in the work. The conse- 
quence was that the next Convention at Washington 
invited the participation of pharmaceutists in the re- 
vision then begun, and provided that, in the following 
Decennial Convention, that, namely, of 1850, the incor- 
porated colleges of pharmacy throughout the Union 
should be represented upon an equal footing with medi- 
cal associations. This accordingly happened; and the 



42 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

last two decennial conventions have consisted of dele- 
gates of both professions; and the two latest editions 
have been their joint work. I have no hesitation in stat- 
ing that, in consequence of the full co-operation of the 
two professions, which was scarcely secured before the 
recent revision, the present Pharmacopoeia is not only 
better positively than any preceding edition, which 
might be expected under any circumstances, but is 
much better relatively; that is, of a higher character, 
in relation to the state of pharmacy now, than any one 
of its predecessors was, in a similar relation, at the time 
of its publication; and to Dr. Bache in a considerable 
degree is due this very satisfactory result. 

The other point requiring notice is the rule, which, 
in all our labours for the Pharmacopoeia, strongly actu- 
ated Dr. Bache and myself, of endeavouring to make our 
national standard conform as much as possible with the 
standards of Great Britain, so that pharmaceutical terms 
should, to every proper and practicable extent, have the 
same signification wherever the English language is 
spoken. This approximate identity has been much fa- 
cilitated by the recent consolidation of the three British 
Pharmacopoeias; and it is an interesting fact that a 
paper by Dr. Bache was published in the American 
Journal of Pharmacy, in the year 1855, and immedi- 
ately afterwards republished in one or more British 
journals, strongly recommending, and argumentatively 
enforcing such a consolidation. Whether this disin- 
terested advice from a stranger had any influence in 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 43 

promoting the decision come to by the British authori- 
ties I am unable to say. 

We are not yet done with the incidents of Dr. Bache's 
life, arising out of his connection with the College of 
Physicians. One of the most important as regards his 
worldly interests, perhaps the most important, is yet to 
be mentioned; I refer to his partial authorship of the 
U. S. Dispensatory. This work would, in all probability, 
never have been undertaken, but for his previous con- 
cern in the revision of the Pharmacopoeia, in which he 
became engaged solely through his fellowship in the 
College. Indeed, one of the chief motives for writing 
the Dispensatory was in order, by its means, to make 
the Pharmacopoeia more generally known and accepta- 
ble, and thereby contribute to its universal practical re- 
cognition as the national standard. The original Phar- 
macopoeia of 1820 was very far from having attained to 
this position. It was natural that they who had la- 
boured so long in preparing the new edition of 1830, 
should wish to see it successful, and be disposed to do 
what they could to make it so. They knew no better 
method than to prepare a work, which, while it might 
supply a great want of the whole medical and pharma- 
ceutical professions, should also serve as a commentary 
on the Pharmacopoeia, giving detailed accounts of the 
medicines it recognized, and explaining and enforcing 
all its processes. It was in this wish and hope that I 
proposed to Dr. Bache, and our mutual friend, Daniel 
B. Smith, President of the College of Pharmacy, whose 



44 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

thorough acquaintance with pharmacy both scientific- 
ally and practically rendered his co-operation desirable, 
that we should join in preparing a dispensatory, which 
was then much needed, as there was no work of the 
kind in the English language, which could be considered 
as a proper exponent of the pharmacology of the period, 
or as calculated to meet the peculiar wants of the two 
professions in this country. The proposal was accepted, 
and at a meeting in Mr. Smith's house, Oct. 28th, 1830, 
it was agreed that we should proceed immediately to 
work; Dr. Bache taking mainly the mineral substances 
and those resulting from purely chemical processes as 
his share, while Mr. Smith should deal with the strictly 
pharmaceutical part, and the vegetable materia medica 
was allotted to me. We had not proceeded far, when 
Mr. Smith found that a continuance of the work on his 
part would be incompatible with his other engagements, 
and with our assent withdrew, having completed a phar- 
maceutical preface, and a few other articles, which still 
stand in the work over his initials. I ventured myself 
to take up the burden which our friend laid down ; and 
thus it happened, and not from any failure in his own 
engagement, that Dr. Bache was responsible for only 
about one-third of the work. 

It may not be amiss to mention here, as strongly illus- 
trative at once of his sense of justice and spirit of inde- 
pendence, that, on my proposal that, whatever might 
happen to be the proportionate amount of the work 
produced by each, as determined merely by the number 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 45 

of pages, which could not be received as an accurate 
measure of value, the proceeds should be equally divided, 
he positively declined; and this, too, at a time when a 
few hundred dollars annually were a matter of great 
importance to him. 

The work was successful greatly beyond our expecta- 
tions; a second edition being called for some time before 
the expiration of the year; and from that time to the 
decease of Dr. Bache, a period of about thirty years, 
there was no slackening in the public demand. That it 
contributed to fulfill the original purpose of the authors, 
the diffusion, namely, of a knowledge of the Pharma- 
copoeia, and its ultimate adoption as the national stand- 
ard, can scarcely be doubted. For obvious reasons I am 
precluded from comment on the character, the merits or 
demerits of the work; but a few facts may be men- 
tioned, in addition to what has been already said; and 
are indeed called for in justice to him with whose biogra- 
phy we are engaged. One of them is that the work is 
not the same as it was when first written, but really a 
new one, in which certain primary features of the origi- 
nal have been preserved, but the substance has been 
changed as if by a sort of interstitial growth, indicating 
a constant watchfulness, at each successive edition, so to 
modify every article, as to bring it into accordance with 
the progress of knowledge or the change of opinion. 
Besides, very many additions have been made ; and 
the quantity of matter contained in the book has been 
nearly if not quite doubled. Another fact is that, in 



46 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

consequence of the presumed necessity of restraining 
the work within the limits of a single volume, the au- 
thors have used ceaseless efforts to compress the lan- 
guage, not only striving to express new matter in the 
fewest words consistent with clearness, but eliminating 
whatever was useless from the old; so that there are 
probably few works which contain more substance in 
the same space. A third point to which I would call 
attention is the great precision and clearness of that 
portion of the Dispensatory for which Dr. Bache is re- 
sponsible, and the remarkable accuracy of the whole as 
long as he lived to watch over it; for the entire work, 
down to each word, letter, and point, passed at every 
revision under his critical eye, which few errors escaped.* 
It will thus be seen that the care of the Dispensatory 
occupied a large portion of Dr. Bache's time for many 
years ; and this remark applies not only to the occasions 
when new editions were prepared; but more or less 
also to the intervals, when materials were collected for 
subsequent use. Of the importance of the work to 
Dr. Bache, in a financial point of view, an inference 
may be drawn from the fact, that, up to the time of his 
decease, he had received the proceeds accruing to him 
from the sale of 79,000 copies; but probably of still 
greater value to him was the reputation which it gave 



* The parts of the Dispensatory belonging to Dr. Bache are indicated by 
his initial, B, at the foot of each article or portion of an article written by 
him. 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 47 

him throughout the Union, and to which there can 
be little doubt that his appointment to a professorship 
in the Jefferson School was mainly ascribable. It will 
now, I think, be admitted, that what was before stated 
of the beneficent influence upon his fortunes of his 
fellowship in the College of Physicians has been fully 
confirmed. 

There were various other associations, literary, scien- 
tific, professional, or benevolent, with which Dr. Bache 
was connected. Thus, he was an early member of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of this city; was in 1840 
elected a corresponding member of the National Insti- 
tute at Washington; and in 1854 became an honorary 
member of the Imperial Academy of Naturalists at Mos- 
cow. For many years he served as one of the Managers 
of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Philadel- 
phia, and was for some time president of the board. In 
1857 he was made an honorary member of the Amer- 
ican Pharmaceutical Association. One other association 
I will mention, because his connection with it exercised 
some influence on his subsequent life; I refer to the 
Temperance Society as first formed in this city. 

Dr. Bache heartily participated in the great temper- 
ance movement which began about the year 1826, and 
the influence of which, though impaired by various op- 
posing causes, is still felt in the general prevalence of 
habits in this respect greatly in advance of those which 
so fearfully characterized our country when the move- 
ment began. A society was soon formed in Philadel- 



48 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

phia, consisting largely of medical men, of which Dr. 
Bache was one, and, after a time, if I am not mistaken, 
a manager. The great principle of this society was the 
promotion of temperance by entire abstinence both from 
the personal use, and from the offering to others, of any 
form of ardent spirit or distilled alcoholic liquor as drink, 
except when it might be required for medical purposes. 
It was believed that this principle might be universally 
adopted, and, should it be so, would secure a complete 
triumph to the cause of temperance; while an attempt 
to carry the contest further, and abolish the use of fer- 
mented liquors, would inevitably fall short of its aim, 
and might even aggravate the original evil by leading 
to reaction. We neither gave nor exacted any written 
pledge, we did not even engage our personal honour, 
trusting solely to the determination of individual mem- 
bers. I say we ; because I was one of those who adopted 
this rule of action; and the sentiments of Dr. Bache 
and myself were in perfect accord on the subject. We 
adopted the rule for life, independently of all associa- 
tion; and I have reason to believe that my friend lived 
up to it entirely to the very end. He never, after hav- 
ing joined the society, either drank ardent spirit, or gave 
it to another except as a medicine. But he abandoned 
the society when he believed it to be carried, in the then 
existing whirlwind of excitement, into dangerous excess. 
He could not accompany it in a crusade against all forms 
of fermented liquor, even down to cider and spruce beer, 
in its proclamation of the abstract sinfulness of even the 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 49 

moderate use of alcoholic drinks of every kind, in its 
attempt to control free-will in this respect by law, and 
in degrading the cause of temperance by mixing it up 
with the paltry interests of mere party contests. He was 
thoroughly convinced that on this road the great cause 
could never advance to universal or even general accept- 
ance, and apprehended that the extremes to which the 
movement was carried would endanger a resilience in 
the opposite direction, so as to put at risk the per- 
manence of all that had been gained; and an out-look 
upon the present condition of the cause will go far to 
convince the impartial observer that his apprehensions 
were not altogether groundless. 

Let us now take a view of Dr. Bache at the time of 
his life to which our narrative has carried us; when his 
faculties were at the best; when he had tided over the 
shoals of fortune, and his position in the world was 
fixed; when around and before him all was bright, un- 
less when temporarily obscured by some flitting sad- 
ness from the past, or by some of those brief sorrows or 
anxieties from passing events from which humanity is 
never exempt. As I am writing not only for the audi- 
ence to which this memoir is addressed, but also in the 
hope that my humble effort may reach other persons 
and other times less familiar with its subject, you will 
excuse me if, in this attempted portraiture, I shall in- 
troduce many features both of person and character, 
already well known to most if not all of my hearers. The 
period to which I now allude was after his election to 



50 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

his professorship in the Jefferson School, between his 
fiftieth and sixtieth year. In a conversation with the 
late Hon. John Sergeant, with whose reputation for 
wisdom you are all familiar, at a time when I was my- 
self verging on that age, and expressing some appre- 
hension of a probable decline of mental power, he as- 
sured me that I was mistaken. "You are approaching," 
said he, "an age in which there is greater capacity for 
usefulness than at any other. The intellect is mature 
without having begun to decay; while the passions of 
earlier life, which so often mislead or obscure the judg- 
ment, have lost much if not all of their strength, and 
the sense of duty is stronger than ever; so that with 
equal powers, and a clearer insight, we feel ourselves 
more forcibly impelled to a useful course of action. No ! 
The most fruitful ten years of your life are before 
you." In thus speaking, Mr. Sergeant, no doubt, but 
told his own experience; and the life of Dr. Bache 
offered another illustration of the correctness of his 
judgment. 

With a symmetrical person, five feet ten inches high, 
and weighing about 160 pounds; a well-shaped head of 
medium size; an oval face, with regular features, though 
an unusually small mouth; dark-gray eyes, dark-brown 
hair, and a fair complexion, Dr. Bache was, even in 
advanced life, a fine-looking man, and when young must 
have been eminently handsome. A copious gray beard, 
which he wore for some years before he died, though it 
gave him a venerable appearance, detracted, I think, 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 51 

from the beauty and expressiveness of his countenance, 
by concealing some of its best features. His habitual 
expression was a placid and calm seriousness, with a cer- 
tain degree of sweetness, which gave a charm to his face 
somewhat like that of his great ancestor in certain busts 
that I have seen of him. In society, however, this 
habitual repose often gave way to smiles; for he en- 
joyed humour; and, whether the humorous thought was 
his own or another's, it was equally depicted on his 
features. In our frequent committee meetings, after 
the business had been finished, it was not uncommon 
for some one, addressing Dr. Bache, to call out, " Now, 
Doctor, let us amuse ourselves; give us something to 
make us laugh;" and, though this is not the most ef- 
fectual method of eliciting wit or humour, we were 
seldom disappointed. The seriousness would vanish 
from his face, and the smiles which followed found us 
always ready to sympathize. 

In regard to intellectual character, he had an excel- 
lent reasoning faculty, though slow in its operation, lead- 
ing him, when the necessary facts or data were before 
him, almost invariably to correct conclusions; and these 
once attained were seldom afterwards disturbed. This 
steadiness of conviction, however, was not in any degree 
owing to an obstinate temper; but apparently to his 
confidence in the accuracy of the trains of thought by 
which he had reached them; for no man was more open 
than he to correction, and, when convinced that he had 
been wrong, no one more ready to acknowledge his 

4 



52 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

error. Yet such were the strength and tenacity of his 
first convictions, that, after full acknowledgment of 
their fallacy, his mind was apt in time to return to 
them, apparently forgetful of the suggestions which had 
induced his change of opinion. In our very frequent 
conferences there was of course occasional disagree- 
ment, and, when I happened to be in the right, I could 
generally, perhaps always convince my colleague; but 
years afterwards, as, for example, in the successive de- 
cennial revisions of the Pharmacopoeia, I found him 
with his original convictions returned, being quite for- 
getful of the course of argument by which he had been 
induced to change them ; so that it was necessary to go 
over the same grounds to bring about the same result; 
and this happened not once only at a single revision, 
but sometimes a second, and perhaps a third time. 

In addition to his excellent faculty of ratiocination, 
he had in a remarkable degree the quality of common 
sense or judgment, by which, certain conditions being 
given, the best or most expedient course of action is de- 
termined, or which, the question being as to the probable 
opinions or actions of a number of individuals under 
certain circumstances, resolves the question truly as if 
by intuition or with a spirit of prophecy; a faculty pro- 
bably consisting in a constitution of mind similar in 
character to that of the multitude, though superior in 
grade. That these two faculties, reason and judgment, 
are quite distinct, is proved by the fact, that a high 
degree of one is compatible with a very low degree of 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 53 

the other; the profound thinker often having little com- 
mon sense, while the man of excellent judgment is often 
almost incapable of abstract reasoning. Dr. Bache pos- 
sessed both, in a high degree; and whatever intellectual 
superiority he may have evinced was probably owing, 
chiefly at least, to this combination. 

Of the faculty of imagination he seems to have pos- 
sessed very little. Either as a speaker or writer, so far 
as I am aware, he was never consciously guilty of a 
metaphor or other flower of speech; and, though he 
certainly could understand such figures intellectually, 
I doubt whether he had a true feeling of their beauty 
or grandeur. 

In the closely allied power of invention he was equally 
deficient; and in the faculty of observation was, I think, 
little superior to the generality of men. As the posses- 
sion of any power in excess is ordinarily attended with 
a proportionate disposition to exercise it, so a deficiency 
generally involves an indisposition to act in the direc- 
tion of the faculty; and thus we may account for the 
absence, in the history of Dr. Bache, of any poetical 
effort, any sustained attempt at the discovery of new 
truths in science, or any apparent wish to gain distinc- 
tion as an original observer in the fields of natural 
history. He dealt with facts or presumed facts already 
known; and his forte was to examine and compare, to 
sift out the true and valuable from the mass of the un- 
true, the doubtful, and the worthless, and then to re- 
cord the results in due order and a lucid manner, and 



54 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

in a style clear and precise, without any attempt at the 
showy or ornamental. 

Both the sense and faculty of humour he possessed in 
a considerable degree; and this appears to have been 
quite distinct from his other mental qualities; so that, 
seen in his different states of mind, the serious and 
jocose, he seemed like two different individuals. He 
did not, like many others, habitually mingle the two 
together. In his serious writings or conversation he 
seldom indulged his humorous propensity; and when 
in the latter vein he was apt to give himself up to it 
altogether for the time. I do not say that this was in- 
variably true, but, according to my observation, it cer- 
tainly was so as a general rule. Between this and his 
other mental qualities there was this remarkable differ- 
ence; that, while unusually slow in the latter, he was 
in, the former remarkably quick and ready; and his 
humour seems to have been the only thing about him 
to which the term quickness was applicable. I may, 
perhaps, be excused for giving a few specimens of his 
humour, illustrative of its character, confining myself to 
those which came under my own observation. The first 
specimen that I shall give belongs to the category of 
puns, to which, in common with some other distin- 
guished Philadelphians, he was not a little addicted. 

It occurred at a large dinner-party, consisting exclu- 
sively of medical men, given in the year 1839, and 
intended to celebrate the establishment of peace and 
harmony in our profession. Dr. Chapman presided, and, 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 55 

if I remember rightly, Dr. R. M. Patterson, Dr. Thomas 
Harris, and Dr. Bache were Vice-presidents. At the 
proper time, Dr. Bache, as one of the three Vice-presi- 
dents, was called on for a speech. This he premised by 
offering a toast. "I give you," said he, "our worthy 
President, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, who with his many 
excellent qualities, has, so far as I know, only three 
vices ; and they are so very amiable that they may al- 
most be regarded as virtues." A gentleman sitting next 
me at table whispered in my ear " "What are the three 
vices of which Dr. Bache speaks?" I whispered in return 
Vice-presidents. 

Another was a kind of witticism which was not un- 
common with him, being intended generally to coyer a 
gentle satire, or perhaps a kindly piece of advice. The 
public was much agitated on the subject of mesmerism, 
and many wonderful stories were told, and believed by 
the credulous. In this instance clairvoyance was the 
subject. It was pretended that a person mesmerized 
sympathized with the mesmerizer, so as to see, feel, hear, 
taste, smell, and think as he. The story was told that 
an individual thus affected was carried mentally with 
the operator into a far distant apartment which he had 
never seen, and, being asked what he saw, mentioned, 
among other things known to be in the room, the por- 
trait of a lady representing only the back of the head 
and bust. "Oh!" said Dr. Bache, "that was a small 
matter. Had he seen the face of the picture, that would 
have been worth telling." He could not have more 



56 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

effectually intimated his belief that the whole affair was 
simply humbug. 

The third specimen represents another variety of 
humour in which Dr. Bache sometimes indulged, the 
jocose, namely, though very seldom with so much of 
the practical character as this. A party to which he 
and I belonged were travelling in Switzerland, and, 
having reached the foot of a long ascent in the road, 
we two had alighted, and were walking up the hill. At 
all such places in Savoy and Switzerland, there is apt 
to be a number of little beggars, ready to waylay the 
traveller. Such a crowd, consisting of boys and girls 
from about ten or eleven years downward, for the older 
cannot be spared from the field or workshop, approached 
us, and with the most dolorous expression of counte- 
nance, and whining tones of distress, begged aid for 
their sick mother, etc. Dr. Bache at length, turning 
round to them, and counterfeiting their lugubrious face 
and piteous tones, held out his hand, and begged of 
them beseechingly something for his poor sick wife and 
houseful of starving babes at home. The humour of the 
joke was more than they could stand. They exchanged 
their affected sadness for smiles and laughter, and, as if 
ashamed of having been caught in their attempted de- 
ception, turned slowly, and walked away. 

I do not know that I should have detained you with 
these illustrative anecdotes; but that each of them has 
its own significance besides. The first informs you of 
an interesting fact in the medical history of this city; 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 57 

the second of Dr. Bache's utter want of faith in clair- 
voyance and whatever else seemed miraculous in mes- 
merism ; and the third of an event in his history which 
was of great interest to himself, that, namely, of his 
visit to Switzerland. 

Hitherto we have considered only the intellectual 
side of Dr. Bache's mental constitution. The moral 
was still more characteristic ; and this I find it difficult 
to portray so as to do full justice to my own impres- 
sions. In a few words, it may be said that he was, 
seemingly by his very nature, a Christian. At the foun- 
dation of his moral character was a strong conscientious- 
ness, which, apparently without his own cognizance, 
regulated all his thoughts and deeds. One might sup- 
pose that the idea of doing what he believed to be wrong 
never occurred to him ; and, though his natural slowness 
sometimes prompted him to postpone doing what he had 
engaged and felt that in duty he was bound to do, yet 
the dissatisfaction attendant on this neglect secured the 
full performance of his engagement in the end. I do 
not think that I ever knew him to fail in the ultimate 
fulfillment of a promise ; and I was always entirely 
confident of his performance of a task, when a positive 
promise could be secured. Knowing himself in this 
respect, he was always exceedingly cautious in making 
engagements, unless of such a nature as to render him 
entirely confident in their easy fulfillment. 

His regard for truth, which was equally remarkable, 
might be considered as an offshoot of his conscientious- 



58 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OP 

ness. But I do not believe that it was so. Both seemed 
to spring from the same root. He was not true simply 
because he believed it wrong to be otherwise. False- 
hood in every shape, direct and indirect, by assertion or 
insinuation, or even by purposed silence, was abhorrent to 
his nature. It did not seem possible for him to be other- 
wise than true. I need not say I never knew him to 
utter an untruth consciously; I cannot recall an instance 
in which he even hinted an untruth, or allowed a wrong 
impression, arising, though without his own complicity, 
from what he may have said, to remain uncorrected. 
Nay, he would not unfrequently, when he knew or sus- 
pected a wrong impression in his favour to have been 
received, without any instrumentality of his own what- 
ever, take pains to correct it, though silence might have 
been altogether justifiable. 

Of the same character was his sense of justice. This 
was a governing principle of his life. Like his regard 
for truth, it did not seem to spring from his conscien- 
tiousness. He was not just because he thought it his 
duty to be so, but simply for the sake of justice, which 
he loved for itself alone. Nothing could tempt him to 
take or accept an advantage which he thought unfair; 
and though by no means obstinate where no duty in- 
tervened, he was in such cases inexorable. While thus 
scrupulous not to violate justice to others, he expected 
also that it should be exercised towards himself; and 
perhaps made fewer allowances, in cases of its non- 
performance, than many others might be disposed to do, 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 59 

who were less rigorously exacting of themselves. Per- 
haps nothing affected the standing of an individual in 
his estimation more injuriously than a conviction of his 
habitual injustice. 

From the joint influence of his regard for truth and 
justice, he was extremely candid, often incidentally 
speaking of facts concerning himself or his affairs, which 
might be interpreted to his disadvantage, though never 
intruding them on his hearers. For example, he never 
hesitated to admit the limited amount of his income 
from practice, though professional men are apt to think 
that their prospects are benefited by a general belief of 
their success, and that nothing more impedes progress 
than the contrary impression that they have little or 
nothing to do. But this candour was evinced through- 
out his life, and was one of its many interesting features. 
It was no doubt promoted by a consciousness that there 
was nothing about him which it was expedient or neces- 
sary to conceal. 

A love of order was another striking feature of his 
moral nature. This pervaded all that he did or said. 
It was to be seen in the precision of his language, in his 
ordinary bodily movements, in the state of his sitting 
apartments and the arrangement of his books and papers, 
in the keeping and settlement of his accounts, in his 
work of all kinds, reading, writing, and lecturing, in the 
relative position and proportion of the several subjects 
or parts of subjects discussed, even to a great extent in 
his social relations. Perhaps to this principle may be 



60 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

ascribed his dislike of little inaccuracies of style and 
grammar, and ordinary errors of the press in whatever 
he read. Even a misplaced point was offensive to him. 
He generally read books of any scientific pretension with 
pencil in hand, and was in the habit of noting correc- 
tions on the margin, a list of which, on the principle of 
doing as he would be done by, he sometimes sent to the 
author, from whom, in several instances, he received a 
letter of acknowledgment and thanks. 

Not less prominent than the preceding characteristics, 
perhaps I might say the most prominent of his moral 
qualities, was the equanimity or rather the extraordi- 
nary placidity of his temper. I do not think that, 
notwithstanding my abundant intercourse with him in 
private and public, in his own family and elsewhere, 
socially, in joint labour, and officially, though I have 
travelled with him at home and abroad, and on one 
occasion five or six months successively, I have ever, 
in any one instance, seen him really angry. I have 
seen him unusually serious under offence, I have heard 
him complain when he conceived himself injured or un- 
justly treated, and have even witnessed something like 
sternness of expression upon his features on the occasion 
of flagrant injury to a friend or to society; but he ex- 
hibited none of what are habitually considered the char- 
acteristic symptoms of anger or even indignation; and 
the strongest term that I could apply under the circum- 
stances was that he was offended. Indeed, on one oc- 
casion at least, he complained to me of this peculiarity 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 61 

of his nature, and expressed regret that he could not 
feel decidedly angry, even when intellectually convinced 
that he ought to be not only angry, but very angry. 
This did not arise from any weakness of character; from 
the fear of receiving injury, or even from an unwilling- 
ness to hurt the feelings or offend the sensibility of 
others; for few men were more ready than he to show 
or express disapproval when deserved, even to the of- 
fender himself, and to punish any great dereliction of 
duty or of propriety in whatever mode might be deemed 
expedient ; but he did all this without the exhibition, 
and probably with little of the feeling of anger. I do 
not think that Dr. Bache ever had any great difficulty 
in fulfilling the two divine precepts, of doing to others 
as you would that they should do to you, and of the 
forgiveness of injuries. 

Though desirous of the good opinion of others, and 
sensitive to merited commendation, Dr. Bache cannot 
be said to have been ambitious. He cared little or no- 
thing for power, had no wish to influence others except 
through their reason and judgment, and coveted dis- 
tinguished position only as it evinced kindly feelings or 
favourable opinion. Perhaps a somewhat larger infusion 
of ambition into his nature might have given it greater 
energy, and stimulated him to the accomplishment of 
still more for the general good and his own fame. 

Kindly disposed to all, and, however much he may 
have disapproved, hating none, he reserved his warmest 
affections within narrow limits, and, outside of the 



62 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

family circle, there were few who enjoyed his entire 
friendship and confidence. He gave his affections slowly, 
as he formed his opinions; but, like these, when once 
given they were very steadfast. It was one of my 
highest sources of satisfaction in life that he considered 
me among his nearest friends. From the commence- 
ment of our acquaintance, not a shadow remains in my 
recollection upon the kindliness of our intercourse. Our 
mutual confidence and reliance were complete ; and in 
losing him I have felt as though one of my main sup- 
ports in life had been taken from under me ; that a 
vacuum has been produced in my existence which can 
never be filled; yet I have sincere pleasure in looking 
back to our long unbroken friendship; and the best com- 
pensation for his loss, the nearest approach to the satis- 
faction of our former intercourse, is that which I have 
experienced on the present occasion in tracing out his 
career and character, and attempting to do justice to his 
memory. 

But little more is necessary to complete the portrai- 
ture. Dr. Bache had a great taste and fondness for 
music, but, I presume, little power of execution; at 
least I never knew him to make the trial. He was a 
frequent attendant of the opera here; and, in our jour- 
ney through Europe, he never failed to avail himself of 
this source of enjoyment in the great capitals we visited. 

I need scarcely speak again of his characteristic slow- 
ness, so often referred to in the course of the memoir, 
except to say that it appeared to pervade almost his 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 63 

whole being, and was exhibited not only in his mental 
operation, but also in his bodily movements. His slow 
deliberate step in walking is familiar to all who knew 
him. This deliberateness in whatever he did, said, or 
wrote, had its advantages. It saved him, no doubt, 
from the commission of many errors, and was one of the 
causes of the extreme accuracy by which he was so 
favourably distinguished. In our intercourse not only 
as co-workers in scientific and professional pursuits, but 
in various other respects, I have myself derived so much 
advantage from this peculiarity of our friend, that I 
have probably reason to consider it rather as worthy of 
commendation than as a defect. 

Little need be added to what has been already said 
of the attainments of Dr. Bache. He had received the 
usual elementary education in the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages, was familiar with the French, and, when some- 
what advanced in life, undertook the study of the Ger- 
man, in which he made considerable progress, though 
without mastering it. His reading, though occasionally 
excursive into the various fields of literature, was chiefly 
scientific and professional; and his leisure intervals were 
generally occupied in keeping himself on a level with 
the knowledge of the times. 

I have already had occasion to speak of his style as 
a lecturer. As a writer it was similarly characterized ; 
clear, concise, correct, simple, methodical, calculated to 
make the subject fully understood, without calling at- 
tention off from it to the author. In his published 



64 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

writings, he seldom if ever indulged in the humorous 
or jocose; but it was much otherwise in his familiar let- 
ters. There were few of the many written to myself in 
which some pleasantry was not introduced. I may be 
excused if I quote one by way of illustration. He had 
been travelling with me for about a week in one of my 
customary excursions into the interior; and, leaving us 
at the Susquehanna, had found the accommodation on 
his journey back by another route somewhat rough, 
with a break -down of the stage-coach superadded. 
Writing me on his return, and wishing to contrast his 
pleasant journey out with the unpleasant one home- 
ward, he said that he could not better express his feel- 
ings than by a comparison he had heard in his boy- 
hood; "I went up watermelon and came down squash." 

Of his religious opinions Dr. Bache seldom spoke even 
to his intimate friends. He attended worship in the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. If we judge him by the 
Gospel rule, that a tree is known by its fruits, he can- 
not have been very far wrong; for few men, within the 
circle of my knowledge, lived more nearly up to the 
Christian standard. 

Though his political opinions were decided, and he 
generally gave expression to them at the ballot-box, he 
could not be considered, in the ordinary acceptation of 
the term, as a party man, and never, I believe, at least 
after I knew him, took an active part in measures con- 
nected with party politics. 

From the commencement of the era of his life, which 



DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 65 

is now engaging our attention, to its close, a period of 
somewhat more than twenty years, Dr. Bache occupied 
a most enviable position. Highly respected by all and 
generally beloved, so far as I know without an enemy, 
with a sufficient income to support him handsomely, 
and a surplus that enabled him to make some provision 
for the future ; occupied, too, in various useful works, 
which, leaving him intervals of relaxation, fully em- 
ployed without oppressing him, generally in the enjoy- 
ment of good health, and participating in the ordinary 
social duties and pleasures of his station, with an affec- 
tionate family around him, he lived as happy a life as 
the uncertainty of all human affairs permitted, or prob- 
ably as consisted with his own permanent good. A 
portion of each summer, perhaps from two to six weeks, 
he was in the habit of giving to relaxation in the coun- 
try, generally at the sea-shore. Once he paid a visit 
with me to a residence in my native place in New Jer- 
sey, where I had an opportunity of taking him to a 
religious meeting of the Friends, held in unbroken 
silence, which he seemed to enjoy as something quite 
new to his experience. The necessity of attending sci- 
entific and professional conventions at distant places, 
and once at least of being present, by appointment of 
the Government, at the examination of the Military 
Academy at West Point, gave him the opportunity of 
occasional absences from home, which contributed to 
diversify his life agreeably. I have before alluded to a 
visit of about five months, which he paid with me to 



66 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. 

Europe in the summer of 1853, and which he enjoyed 
exceedingly ; but time is not allowed me to descant 
upon this subject as I should be pleased to do. 

In the spring of 1864, after the completion and pub- 
lication of the Pharmacopoeia, in the revision of which 
he had been so long and so laboriously engaged, while 
enjoying an interval of rest before entering on the still 
more laborious duty of revising the Dispensatory for a 
new edition, he was attacked, on the 11th of March, 
with the disease which carried him off. This had in its 
earlier stages the characteristic features of an epidemic 
influenza then prevailing, but assumed, two or three 
days before its close, a decidedly typhous condition, and 
ended fatally on the 19th, after a duration of somewhat 
more than a week. 

I have thus given as faithful a record of the life and 
character of our departed friend and fellow-member as 
it was in my power to do. If I have succeeded in my 
aim, I have represented to you an extraordinary man, 
one upon whose memory not a stain rests, and who, 
while he worked diligently, and thus did much for the 
public good, has done still more, within the limited cir- 
cle where he was personally known, by presenting to 
the young men entering on the stage of active duties, 
an example, for their imitation, of all that is morally 
excellent, lovely, and of good report in manhood. 



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